Headlights booster harness from LMC

[Cletus09]

I was having sever headlight problems. A fix recommended on here was to replace the fuse with a circuit breaker. I did that. The breaker would get real hot after an hour of low beam use. Much more, and the breaker would trip and I would loose lights. Which is not fun when it happens on the free way. I did more poking around on here and decided to buy the headlight booster harness from LMC Truck as suggested in the CUCV headlight circuit sticky by Warthog. I also bought a set of headlight assemblys from Amazon to replace the sealed beams. I received the harness and was disappointed to find the packaging covered in Chinese hieroglyphics. The only English on the whole thing was a set of installation instructions on the back of the package.

The harness itself was a piece of cake to put in. Every end of the harness was labeled (in English). The hardest part was finding a ground point. And there is one above each headlight. Everything went fine until I went to plug in the driver side headlight (the harness takes power from the passenger side). The harness was to short. The instructions on the package said not to lengthen the harness, but I did anyway, about a foot.

The harness is built well and the electrical contact points were all copper (as I remember). I thought it was worth the $30 but I wish it was longer. You may be able to find the same thing for less if you look somewhere other than LMC. LMC did not have their name anywhere on the package.

Also, the shape of the package showed that it originally contained two h4 bulbs ($12 apiece at NAPA) but they had been removed. I figure LMC then sells them again. Kinda dirty in my opinion. But if you intend to keep using sealed beams, then it doesn't matter.

I didn't take pictures of the install because it was soooo easy. And it was cold, and dark, and outside when I did it.


This is one of the two relays that came with the harness. one for high beams and one for low.

 

[sschaefer3]

It says Toyota a lot on there and I know that my M1008 is 16" wider than my 1984 Toyota 4WD Pickup, this may explain why it was 12" too short. I measured so I could tell how much more room I would need on the trail. My experience with LMC has been this, half of the stuff is really nice, half of the stuff is junk. You never know until you get it. I bought door panels from them and they outright did not fit, I ordered some from Coverlay in Texas and they fit perfect.

I really wanted to buy this for my truck as well, thanks for posting.

 

[Warthog]

Thanks for posting your experience with LMC.

Looks like I may have to start building some that fit correctly. Just have to find the time.

 

[prairie]

I bought two HD Headlight wiring harness kits. It fit just fine on my CUCV M1008, and the package had nothing about bulbs being included.
I am guessing they sent you a kit for a different application, and just removed the bulbs as they would not fit the application you ordered it for anyway.
Have another one to be installed in my 1991 Chevy pickup, and it does not include bulbs or mention them on the packaging.

 

[sschaefer3]

I bought two HD Headlight wiring harness kits. It fit just fine on my CUCV M1008, and the package had nothing about bulbs being included.
I am guessing they sent you a kit for a different application, and just removed the bulbs as they would not fit the application you ordered it for anyway.
Have another one to be installed in my 1991 Chevy pickup, and it does not include bulbs or mention them on the packaging.

Does your packaging look like his?

 

[2002ford]

Mine fit with no problems either. I have another one for my m1009. I will post a pick in a couple hours. Its still in the package.

 

[richingalveston]

mine fit on my 1009 with no problems. I just recieved the second one I purchased. It is the unit for trucks with duel headlights. I am using it on my motorhome because my headlights on it keep frying the headlight switch. Yes, the top of the package has spots for two bulbs. my second harness is built for four headlights but it is in the same package as the one for two headlights. only two spots for the bulbs not four. I doubt LMC is removing the bulbs. The china builder is just using the package that they probably sell to others with the bulbs.

 

[prairie]

Does your packaging look like his?

Very similar, but no bulb information.

 

[rsh4364]

Mine fit fine but I kinda laid it out before starting install,covered yellow sheathing with black wire conduit and ran in front of radiator,also ground new spots for grounds on core support,and used self tapers with star washers,Im happy with setup but if it said Warthog on it would be even better..He keeps threatening to put these together but until he does.....

 

[MakersTeleMark]

Thanks for posting your experience with LMC.

Looks like I may have to start building some that fit correctly. Just have to find the time.

How about just posting up a known good parts list? That would be really helpful.

 

[Skinny]

What kind of price are we talking here?

I'm thinking about doing this as most older rigs really do not enjoy running headlight current through the fuse panel or switch anymore. My plan would be to mount up two relays (probably $10 total) near the batteries and use the stock pigtail to switch them on and off. I'm sure you can get a set of H4 pigtails for under $10. My truck would be to tap off the 24v bus bar and use 24v H4 bulbs. They are hard to find locally but on Amazon or Fleeebay, they go pretty cheap. Just thinking outside the box here. I like to over or re engineer stuff because right now I have no girlfriend...

 

[twomorestrokes]

I was going to make my own as well but at thirty bucks for the pre made plug in harness why bother?

 

[muddobber40]

I have never had an issue with LMC's kit either, but for those wanting to save a few bucks, Delcity has everything you need to make you're own.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Just for fun, I priced the parts from Del City. Good prices, too.

Looks to me like you can't roll your own for the price of LMC's kit.

Now, maybe if you were persnickety and want it done YOUR way, it could make sense, but you aren't going to save money doing it.

 

[Warthog]

That's why I haven't done it yet. For quality parts, it was $45ish before labor.

 

[K9Vic]

First of all LMC is not removing bulbs from the packing, that is just a general packaging from the manufacture. You can clearly see on the packaging multiple part numbers with check box. Since sealed beams do not have H4, H1, H7 or any type of removable bulbs, none are included. The harness is designed for sealed beams or the H4 conversion lens that has the H4 bulb.

The harness is perfectly fine in length if you install it correctly, the only issue is that the ground wire to reach the factor headlight ground bold on the driver side needs to be extended by about a foot. Extending the ground wire it not going to cause any problems, they probably just put that warning on there for liability reasons. If you extended it and it causes a problem, they are no liable because they stated not to extend the wires.

I have made the same harness and the time it takes and the parts needed just to not equal buying the same thing for pretty much the same cost.

 

[Cletus09]

Thanks for everyone for adding to this to make it more informative.

I took decently long night trip the other evening, and my headlights still went out. The new harness didn't solve my problem. I'm just going to take everything apart and clean it when I get to it. Also, after flipping back and forth between my high beams and my low beams, my high beams quite working... I' haven't had much time to think about the cause but i know its either my incorrect installation of the harness, or the harness itself. I plugged a bulb into the old harness and the brights worked fine. But when the power is going through the new harness, the low beams work, but then when I turn on the high beams, the headlight go out. Power is getting to neither of the filaments in the bulbs.

Also, what is the best route? I went over top of the radiator. I considered going in front of the radiator, but I questioned the wisdom in this.